Apple to Investigate Report of China IPhone Electric Shock Death

A customer tries an Apple Inc. iPhone 5 at the company's store in the Wangfujing area of Beijing. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said it will “fully
investigate and cooperate with authorities” after media reports
that a woman in China died after using an iPhone that was being
recharged.

A 23-year-old flight attendant died on July 12 after
picking up her iPhone 5 to answer a call, China’s Xinhua News
Agency reported, citing Internet reports. Xinhua cited a post by
a user of Weibo microblogging service saying that the family
“didn’t ask for compensation from Apple, and that it only hopes
people will pay attention, nothing more.”

A press official at the Xinjiang provincial government, who
only gave his surname as Gao, referred questions from Bloomberg
News about the incident to local media reports. The phone was
bought in December with items already handed over to police,
Xinhua reported.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of this tragic incident
and offer our condolences to the Ma family,” Apple said in the
e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News today.